NCOC extends Covid curbs till Feb 15

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) extended the virus-induced curbs announced earlier this month until February 15, as the fifth wave of the pandemic continues unabated across the country, driven by the Omicron variant of novel coronavirus.

The NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s synchronised strategy to contain the coronavirus spread, said the single day tally of fresh Covid cases shot above 7,000, after two days of relatively lower figures.

According to the Express News, the NCOC reviewed coronavirus-induced standard operating procedures (SOPs) in a meeting and decided to extend the curbs until February 15. The measures include a complete ban on all types of indoor events in areas where the positivity ratio was more than 10%.

In the Covid hotspots, the NCOC had already notified that outdoor events would be restricted to 300 fully vaccinated persons. Similarly, vaccination had been made compulsory for all the students above 12 years of age. It said that half of the strength of students under the age of 12 would attend classes.

The NCOC said that 52% of the eligible population had been vaccinated against the infectious disease. According to a statement, the number of eligible population was 153.6 million, out of whom 83 million people had been vaccinated. The NCOC said that 23.5 million people had been partially vaccinated.

Read: Covid-19 pandemic far from over, says WHO chief

The highest vaccination rate had been registered in Islamabad, where 79% of the eligible population had received the anti-Covid shots. It was followed by 59% in Punjab, 47% in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, 46% in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 45% in Balochistan and 43% in Sindh.

Meanwhile, the NCOC said in its daily update that 7,539 people tested positive for the infectious disease during the last 24 hours, pushing the number of active case to 91,854, the highest level since September 10, 2021. It added that 1,240 patients were in critical condition.

The forum said that the national positivity ratio during the past 24 hours was 11.91%. It was the seventh consecutive day of more than 10% positivity rate and the highest level since April 2021. According to the update 25 people breathed their last during the past 24 hours.

Most of the new cases, 2,488, emerged in Sindh, followed by 1,842 cases in Punjab and 1,446 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), according to the NCOC. The forum also said that the highest number of deaths, 12, also occurred in Sindh, followed by 7 in Punjab and 6 in K-P.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)